Beloved Jersey City radio station WFMU is currently holding its 2024 Pledge Drive, and once again as part of it, Yo La Tengo are doing their live all-covers Requestathon to help raise money. It happens Tuesday, March 12 from 9-midnight Eastern during Jesse Jarnow’s show. If you pledge $100 or more (be sure to pledge it to Jarnow’s The Frow Show) and you can make a request (and you’ll get a t-shirt).
Yo La Tengo say: “From 9pm – midnight, your host Jesse Jarnow and co-host Gaylord Fields will listen in horror as Georgia, James, and I—along with our trusted aide-de-capo Bruce Bennett—do our very best to fulfill as many of those requests as we can. As anyone with an ENIAC lying around the house can tell you, nowadays covering a song is as easy as going on the internet to look up the chords and lyrics. But like Tina Turner before us, we never do anything nice and easy. We will consult no device of any type during the show, instead staring in panic at each other until something happens. Don’t mistake this for Stump the Band. We will arrive already stumped. Feel free to give us a choice, or even to merely name an artist and let us select which song to maul. As the show goes by, the requests tend to pile up faster than we can keep track of them, so pledging in advance will increase the odds that we play your song. All you have to do is go to pledge.wfmu.org and follow the bouncing ball. When you get the opportunity to leave a comment for the DJ, put in your request. We swear on a stack of Hit Paraders that the four of us will know nothing of the requests until after the show begins.”
Pledge and request your song here, and tune in Tuesday night to hear the Requestathon live.
Yo La Tengo have a few shows coming up, including the Living Wage for Musicians benefit at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere on March 31 with Slaughter Beach Dog, Heems and more, and Manhattan’s Sony Hall on June 15 with Sun Ra Arkestra in celebration of Marshall Allen’s 100th birthday. They’ve also got Pacific Northwest shows with Built to Spill and more. All dates are listed below.
Yo La Tengo – 2024 Tour Dates
Sun 3/31 Brooklyn, NY Elsewhere | United Musicians and Allied Workers presents: Living Wage for Musicians w/ Slaughter Beach, Dog, Heems, The Ophelias, Christelle Bofale
Tue 5/28 Barcelona, Spain Sala Apolo 18+. All-covers set.
Fri 5/31 Barcelona, Spain Primavera Sound
Sat 6/15 New York, NY Sony Hall All ages. Opening for the Sun Ra Arkestra in celebration of Marshall Allen’s 100th birthday.
Wed 8/14 Portland, OR Pioneer Courthouse Square All ages. BUY TICKETS. With Built to Spill
Thu 8/15 Seattle, WA Woodland Park Zoo All ages. With Built to Spill
Sun 8/25 London, UK All Points East festival
Tue 8/27 Glasgow, UK SWG3 Galvanizers
Thu 8/29 Leeds, UK O2 Academy 14+.
Fri 8/30 Liverpool, UK Content
Thu 8/29 – Sun 9/1 Dorset, UK End of the Road festival
